Second Language Teacher Education

PhD ELESemester 1

Professional PreparationQuestions to be addressed • How is the field of second language teacher education (SLTE) defined

and what does it encompass?• On what theories, research and practices is SLTE built?• What knowledge base is required for pre-service and in-service

teachers?• What beliefs and principles do teachers hold, and how do these

influence their practice?• What constitutes skill and expertise in second language teaching?• What role does experience play in the professional development of

teachers?What is the relationship between the content of a teacher education programme and the practices of its graduates?

Content issues in SLTE

Freeman (1989:27)• Language teacher education has become increasingly

fragmented and unfocussed. Based on a kaleidoscope of elements from many different disciplines, efforts to educate individuals as language teachers often lack a coherent, commonly accepted foundation. In its place, teacher educators and teacher education programmes substitute their own individual rationales, based on pedagogical assumptions or research, or function in a vacuum, assuming yet never articulating-the bases from which they work.

Domains of content

6 domains of content constitute the core knowledge base of SLTE

• Theories of teaching• Teaching skills• Communication skills• Subject matter knowledge• Pedagogical reasoning and decision making• Contextual knowledge•

Theories of Teaching

• -provides the theoretical framework for the programme

• -justifies the approach and the instructional practices Ss are expected to develop in the programme

• -helps one to understand the nature and importance of classroom practices.

•  

3 Views to TeachingDidactic Based on the belief that teaching is primarily concerned with transmitting

knowledge through providing clear explanations, demonstrations or discussions.

 

 Discovery

Based on the belief that students can develop a knowledge

themselves through active investigation and discovery

Interactionist

Students arrive with well-formed ideas, so that there is a necessary interaction between the Ss’ own ideas their empirical observations and the curriculum content.

Theories of Teaching:

The International Encyclopedia of Teaching and Teacher Education (L.W. Anderson 1995•Behaviourist•Cognitive-developmental•Information-processing•Social psychological •Audio lingualism•Communicative•Natural approach

Implicit Theory

• The explanations given by teachers for what they do are typically not derived from what they were taught in teacher education programmes…rather the classroom actions of teachers are guided by internal frames of reference which are deeply rooted in personal experiences, especially in school ones and are based on interpretations of those experiences (Marland 1995:131)

Technical rationality and Critical Reflection

There is therefore a movement from :

Technical rationality (Putorak 1993): mastery of the basic teaching techniques and skills

To

  Critical reflection: teachers are guided by their own personal theory and philosophy of teaching and are constantly renewed by critical reflection and self assessment.

Reflective approaches to teacher development start from the assumption that teachers, rather than methods make a difference, that teachers are engaged in a complex process of planning, decision making hypothesis testing, experimentation and reflection. This approach involves teachers developing their own decision making and classroom practices, and developing strategies for critical reflection and change.

Teaching Skills

Instruction :L.S Shulman(1987) • Involves the observable performance of the variety of teaching

acts It includes many of the most critical aspects of pedagogy: organizing and managing the classroom, presenting clear explanations and vivid descriptions, assigning and checking work, and interacting effectively with students through questions and probes, answers and reactions, praise and criticism.

• It includes management, explanation, discussion and all the observable features of effective direct and heuristic instruction.

Teaching skills• Selecting learning activities/Presenting learning activities• Preparing students for new learning• Asking questions• Checking students understanding• Providing opportunities for practice of new items• Monitoring students learning• Giving feedback on student learning• Reviewing and re-teaching when necessary• Preparation of communicative interaction activities organization and

facilitation of communicative interaction• Judgment of proper balance between fluency and accuracy• Awareness of learner’s errors/Appropriate treatment of errors •  •

Teaching Skills

Gower and Walters (1983)• Presenting language• Controlled practice• Checking• Eliciting dialogues and narratives• Using dialogues• Using texts• Setting up communication activities

Communication skills

Cooper (1993:473)• Although many variables affect classroom

learning, it is generally agreed that the paramount variable is communication. The essence of the teaching- learning process is effective communication for without communication teaching learning would be impossible. Thus one of the core components of teacher education should be speech communication

General Communication Skills• Personality, presence, general style• Voice-audibility ability to project• Voice –clarity, speed, diction• Ability to establish/maintain rapport • Language proficiency

Classroom discourse contains a specific set of speech acts and functions. These include:

• Requesting, ordering, giving rules• Establishing attention• Questioning• Repeating and reporting what has been said• Giving instructions

Classroom Discourse and Language Proficiency

CD contains a specific set of speech acts and functions. These include:

• Requesting, ordering, giving rules• Establishing attention• Questioning• Repeating and reporting what has been said• Giving instructions• Giving and refusing permission• Warning and giving advice• Giving reasons and explaining

Subject Matter Knowledge

Teachers need to know about their subject-the specialized concepts, theories and disciplinary knowledge that constitute the theoretical basis.

• Phonetics and phonology• English syntax• Second language acquisition• Curiculum and syllabus design• Discourse analysis• Sociolinguistics• Analysis of methods• Testing and evaluation

Pedagogical Reasoning and Decision Making

Focuses on the complex cognitive skills that underlie teaching skills and techniques.

L.S Shulman (1987:15)• The key to understanding the knowledge base of

teaching lies at the intersection of content and pedagogy, in the capacity of a teacher to transform the content knowledge he or she possesses into forms that are pedagogically powerful and yet adaptive to the variations in ability and background presented by the students.

Transformation Phase

Consists of:• Preparation: analysis of texts structuring and segmenting,

development of a curricular repertoire and clarification of purposes

• Representation: analogies, metaphors, examples, demonstrations, explanations,

• Selection: modes of teaching, organizing, managing, arranging • Adapting and tailoring to students characteristics: considering

conceptions, reconceptions, misconceptions, and difficulties language, culture, motivations, social class, gender, age, ability, aptitude interests, self concepts and attention.

Contextual Knowledge

Role of societal, community and institutional factors in language teaching.

“The rules, facilities values-expectations and personal backgrounds which serve as resources, constraints and direct influence on learning and teaching” (Posner 1985:2)

Posner, G. Field Experience: A Guide to Reflective Practice. New York: Long

Contextual Factors • Language policies• Language teaching policies• Community factors• Sociocultural factors• Type of school• Administrative services• School culture• School programme• Level of class• Age of the learners• Learning factors• Teaching resources• Testing factors

Instructional Processes in SLTE

1.Conceptualizing the model of teaching that will provide the theoretical foundations for the programme

2. Selecting teaching and learning approaches that are compatible with the theory of learning

Developing Curricular Goals for the 6 Content Domains

• Theories of teaching• Teaching skills• Communication skills• Subject matter knowledge• Pedagogical reasoning and decision making• Contextual knowledge

Goals for Theories of Teaching

• Develop a critical understanding of major theories• Develop a personal theory of teaching and a

reflective approach• Recognize assumptions, beliefs and values of one’s

teaching practices• Acquire skills needed for classroom based enquiry• To know to initiate change in one’s classroom and

monitor effects of change

Goals for teaching skills

• To master basic teaching skills• Develop competence in using one or more

language teaching methodology• To be able to adapt teaching skills and

approaches to new situations

Communication skills and language proficiency

• To develop effective communication skills• To acquire an advanced level of proficiency in

the language to be taught • To be able to use the TL effectively

Goals for subject matter knowledge

• To understand the nature of language and language use

• To understand the nature of second language learning

• To be familiar with the principle approaches to language teaching, curriculum development, testing and evaluation and materials development

Pedagogical reasoning skills

• To analyze pedagogical problems and develop alternative strategies for teaching

• To relate theories of language , teaching, and learning to language teaching in actual situations

• To recognize decision making effectively in one’s teaching

Contextual knowledge

• To understand the role of context in language teaching

• To be able to adapt one’s teaching style according to contextual factors

Processes in SLTE

Developing curricular goals

Learning and teaching options in SLTE programmes

 • Information oriented approaches• Communication activities• Proficiency focused activities • Observations• Experiencing teaching• Reflecting on teaching and learning• Investigating teaching and learning • Carrying out project work

II. Theories of second language teaching

• What is good teaching?• What are the essential knowledge and skills of

the teachers?

Fundamental issues in SLTE• What type of teacher the programme is intended

to graduate?• What attitudes towards research, experiential

knowledge, and self-development the graduate programme is expected to have

3 conceptions of teaching

I. Science- research conceptionII. II. Theory- philosophy conception

III. Art craft conception

I. Science- research conception

Views teaching as a type of scientific activity or at least one that is supported and validated by scientific research and supported by experimentation and empirical investigation.

• Understand the learning principles• Develop tasks and activities based on the

learning principles • Monitor students’ performance on tasks to see

that the desired performance is being achieved.

II. Theory- philosophy conception

Understand the theory and principles of teaching

Select syllabuses , materials, task based on theory

Monitor teaching so it conforms to theory

III. Art craft conception

• Treat each teaching situation as unique• Identify the particular characteristics of each

situation• Try out different teaching strategies• Develop personal approaches to teaching

Conceptions of teaching

• Pennington (1990:132).In

J.C Richards and D Nunan (eds.), Second Language Teacher Education ,New York: CUP.132-52

Whether implicitly or explicitly every teacher preparation programme embodies a philosophy of teaching that connects performance goals to training methods and course content…. Such a rationale incorporates (1) an articulated philosophy or theory of teaching(2) statements relating that philosophy or theory to one or more specialization for which preparation is offered in the programme.

Science research conceptions

1. Operationalizing learning principles-develops teaching principles from research on psychology of

learning specifically memory, transfer, motivation and other factors believed to be important in learning.

General education• Mastery learning• Programmed learning

In SLT:• Audiolingualism• Task- based learning• Learner training

Audiolingualism

• Habit formation and overlearning • Skinnerian concept of conditioning: Mimicry,

memorization of set phrases and repetitive drills : primary teaching techniques.

Task- based language teaching

Theory of teaching derived from learning research. Long and Crookes (1992:27)Task based approaches are different because:• Part of their rationale derives from what is known

about human learning in general and /or SLL in particular…the basic rationale for TBLT derives from SLA research particularly descriptive and experimental studies comparing tutored and naturalistic learning.

Task- based language teaching

…successful language learning involves learners in negotiation of meaning. In the process of negotiating with the speaker of a target language, the learner receives the input necessary to facilitate learning .Classroom tasks that involve negotiation of meaning should therefore form the basis of the language teaching curriculum and tasks can be used to facilitate practice of both language forms and communication.

Research is intended to enable curriculum and materials designer to know what kind of tasks can best facilitate acquisition of target language structures and functions .

 

Task- based language teaching

Prabhu: developed a syllabus and associated teaching materials around three major types of tasks :

• information gaps• opinion gaps tasks• a reasoning gaps.

 

Learner training

• Draws on research on the cognitive styles and learning strategies used by successful learners in second language learning and in completing different types of classroom learning tasks

• Research on learner strategies sought to identify the strategies adopted by successful language learners. The assumption was that people with the above average success in language learning should be studied to determine what it is they do that makes their efforts more successful.

Learner training

Naiman et al (1978) identified six broad categories • Find a learning style that suits you• Involve yourself in the language learning process• Develop an awareness of language both as systems

and communication• Pay constant attention to expanding your language

knowledge• Develop the second language as a separate system• Take into account the demands that SLL imposes

Rees-Miller (1993)• “It is a fundamental tenet of learner training that

learning strategies of successful learners can be codified and taught to poor language learners with a resulting increase in their learning efficiency”.

O’Malley and Chamot (1990)• “Training students to use particular learning

strategies can improve their language learning performance”

2. Following a tested model

• Applying the results of empirical or experimental research to classroom teaching

• “A good view of teaching is developed through logical reasoning and previous research: good teaching is defined in terms of specific acts” (Zahorik 1986:21)

3. Doing what effective teachers do

• Another approach to developing a research based theory of teaching is to derive teaching principles from studies of the practices of effective teachers .This involves identifying teachers who are regarded as exemplary (based on supervisor’s reports, check lists, observations)

III. Perspectives on teacher thinking

• -Teacher beliefs and decision making• -Exploring pedagogical reasoning skills• What is the use of lesson plans?

Teacher’s beliefs and decision making

• Teaching is a thinking activity• Teachers are active agents in the

development of their practice, as decision makers using their own specialist knowledge to guide their actions in particular situations

• Teacher’s beliefs systems shapes the way teachers understand the priorities they accord to different dimensions of teaching.

The nature of teacher’s belief systems

A primary source of teacher’s classroom practice is belief’ systems

• The information• Attitudes• Values • expectations • theories and assumptions about teaching and

learning that the teachers build over time

• The kinds of practical knowledge that teachers use in teaching appear to exist in very personalized terms, based on unique experiences individual conceptions and their interactions with local contexts. It tends to have a personal significance which differs form prescribed models of educational theory.(Cummings 1989)

Measures to Identify teacher’s beliefs

• A descriptive account• A lesson plan analysis task• A beliefs inventory

Teacher’s decision making

Interactive decision making constitutes a key dimension of teacher’s thought processes.

• Routines to describe how teachers manage the moment-to moment processes of teaching

• Cues• Well developed mental representations of

typical students, of typical tasks, expected problems and solutions,

Teachers reasons for interactive decisions

• Student understanding• Student motivation and involvement• Instructional management• Curriculum integration• Subject matter content• Student’s skill and ability• Student’s affective needs

IV. Examining teacher education practices

• -Textbooks• -Classroom observations• -Reflective thinking

Textbooks

• Help or hindrance in teaching?-culturally inappropriate -not always compatible • Teacher made materials ?

Textbooks as a positive influence

• Positive -Gaps on learning reduced -provides a map that lays out the general

contents-provides an orientation of the learning

programme-develop the skills of teaching

Textbooks as a negative influence

• Products of compromise • Dominating nature of textbooks

Classroom observations

• Reflective observation –that is observation that is linked to critical reflection is one strategy that can be used to help teachers develop a deeper understanding of themselves as teachers and so be better prepared to make decisions about their own teaching..

• Preparing teachers to be critically effective is more important in the long term than focusing on the mastery of the skills and techniques that form the mainstay of much teacher education practice.(Dewey 1904 )

Classroom observations

Goals• Developing a terminology for understanding and

discussing the teaching process• Awareness of the principles and decision making

that underlie effective teaching • Distinguishing between effective and ineffective

classroom practices • Identifying techniques and practices that student

teachers can apply to their own teaching

Classroom observation• The first perspective for identifying characteristics of effective

teaching is to examine what teachers do in the classroom. Acheson and Gall(1987:27)

• Dimensions of teaching that can form the focus of observation include:

How the teachers

-Start and end a lesson

-Allots time within a lesson

-Assigns tasks to Ss

-Organizes learning groups

-Supervises Ss while they are learning

-Asks questions

-Reinforces Ss answers

What is gained from observation is dependent upon the theory of teaching or the particular approach or methodology adopted by the teacher.

• (Learner- centred philosophy of teaching: teacher provides a minimum of teacher intervention)

• ( provides learners with a structured learning programme )

Consequently the teachers classroom behaviour will differ significantly.

Guidelines for observation

• Observation should -have a focus-use specific procedures( use a class seating plan

or a class list to check off the frequency of different types of interaction)

-be objective: non participation-collect information not evaluate- Involve critical reflection

Reflection

• Critical reflection refers to an activity or process in which an experience is recalled, considered and evaluated usually in relation to a broader purpose.

• It involves conscious recall and examination as a basis for evaluation and decision making and a source for planning and action(Bartlett 1990)

Bartlett on Critical reflection

• Becoming critical means that as teachers we have to transcend the technicalities of teaching and think beyond the need to improve our instructional techniques. This effectively means to move away form the how to questions to questions which have a limited utilitarian value to the what and why questions which regard instructional and manegerial techniques not as an end in themselves but a part of broader educational purposes (1990:205)

Checklist

• Organization of the lesson• Teacher’s time management• Students performance on tasks• Teacher questions /student responses• Teacher’s explanations• Teacher’s action zone• Classroom interaction• Use of the textbook/board• Group organization

Procedures used by observers

• Time samples : specific behaviour displayed at specific time intervals

• Coding forms: Checks the appropriate category on a set of coded categories of classroom behaviour whenever a behaviour is displayed during the lesson.

• Descriptive narrative(broad)writes a narrative summarizing the main events that occur during a lesson

• Descriptive narrative(narrow)writes a narrative focusing on a particular aspect of a lesson.

Step 2

• Information collected provides the first part of cycle of reflective teaching

• The Information is about the observable dimensions of teaching which can be fed into the subsequent cycles of critical reflectivity.

Critical reflectivity

• Mapping: what do I do as a teacher • Informing: what is the meaning of my teaching • Contesting: How did I become a teacher?

How am I as a teacher?• Appraisal: how might I teach differently?• Acting: What and how shall I teach

An example of an observation topic Teachers’ questions • What is my philosophy of questioning?• What do I believe to be effective and ineffective questioning?• What are the main purposes of asking questions?• What types of questions are simplest and most difficult for my learners?• What sort of answers do I encourage from my learners?• How do I encourage learners to ask questions?

Type of questions:• Yes/No• Short answer questions• Open-ended questions• Display questions• Referential questions

Results of collecting information

• Experienced teachers reflect on an aspect of his/her teaching

• Novice teachers share and understand some of the thinking that underlies how an experienced teacher teaches.

Peer Observation• Peer observation should be voluntary• Participants should select their own partners to work with• Each participant should both observe and be observed • Pre-observation orientation session

-nature of the class to be observed

-materials taught

-teacher’s approach to teaching

-kind of students in the class

-typical patterns of interaction

-class participation

-problems expected

-observation procedures

-observation instruments • The observation• Post observation

Three Way observation

The students

-What were the main goals of the lesson?

-The important thing you learnt

-The most useful part of the lesson

-Anything that was not useful•

2

The observer

-What were the main goals of the lesson?

-The important thing you learnt

-The most useful part of the lesson

-Anything that was not useful

-How one felt about the whole lesson

3

• The teacher

What were the main goals of the lesson?

-The important thing you learnt

-The most useful part of the lesson

-Anything that was not useful

Reflective thinking through journal writing

V. Classroom dynamics